7 Facts About Late General Ibrahim Attahiru Who Died in Plane Crash
Nigeria has been thrown into mourning following the death of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Ibrahim Attahiru, in a plane crash on Friday, May 21.
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The plane conveying the army chief and other top military personnel was said to have crashed on a trip to Kaduna due to bad weather.
Legit.ng has compiled some facts about the late military commander as seen below:
1. General Ibrahim Attahiru was born on August 10, 1966. He was an indigene of Kaduna Kaduna state.
2. The late military commander was an alumnus of the Regular Course 35 of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). He was commissioned as a second lieutenant immediately after he graduated from the academy.
3. Attahiru once served as the commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, a special military unit designed to fight the terrorist offensive in the northeast.
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4. He was, however, removed as the commander of Operation Lafiya Dole due to an increase in Boko Haram attacks and his failure to capture its leader, Abubakar Shekau, dead or alive within 40-days.
5. After his sack from the position, Attahiru was replaced with another general, Nicholas Rogers.
6. Before his appointment as chief of army staff, Attahiru headed the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army.
7. Gen Ibrahim Attahiru became the second Nigerian chief of army staff to die in an air crash after Lt. Colonel Joseph Akahan.
Meanwhile, though details about the crash that killed Attahiru are still sketchy as at the time of filing this report, a military source said that it happened close to the Kaduna International Airport on Friday evening, May 21.
This is a monumental tragedy: Nigerians mourn, react as Chief of Army Staff, 10 others die in plane crash
Already, the Nigerian Air Force, in a statement has confirmed that there was an accident involving one of its aircraft in Kaduna but did not go into details.
Legit.ng reported that Attahiru was one of the eight people who died as the military Beachcraft 350 aircraft crashed at the Kaduna International Airport.
It was gathered that the ill-fated aircraft crashed at the airport’s runway about 6pm.
The commissioner and chief executive officer of the accident investigation bureau, Nigeria, Akin Olateru, confirmed that the eight souls died onboard.
The incident is drawing reactions from Nigerians who are pained by the death of the COAS and the others aboard the plane.
Source: Legit.ng